Volleyball Travels to Georgia and Auburn
9/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 30, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The volleyball team (8-5, 0-3 SEC) will hit the road this weekend to take on Southeastern Conference rivals Georgia (9-6, 1-3 SEC) and Auburn (11-5, 2-2 SEC). The Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs face off in Athens on Friday, Oct. 1, at 6 p.m. CT. Alabama will then head to Auburn to challenge the Tigers on Sunday, Oct. 3, at 1:30 p.m. CT.
"When you go on the road in any conference, especially in the SEC, you have to have the mentality that you are willing to stay in it as long as it takes," Alabama head coach Judy Green said. "We have to have the mindset that when we go onto somebody's home court, we are going to be the spoiler. We have to have a chip on our shoulder and be willing to claw, fight, scratch and do whatever we have to do to take advantage of the situation. I truly believe in our conference that on any given night, anybody can beat anybody. For Alabama, we need to have the mindset that we are going to compete and that everybody is going to show up and be committed to that, so we can play as solid as we can. We are excited to get back out there and serve it up again."
Last week the Tide fell to LSU 3-0 and Arkansas 3-1 in Tuscaloosa. Alabama freshman Brianne Vande Griend led the offense against LSU with 13 kills, and sophomore Kelsey Anderson recorded a match-high of 17 digs. Sophomore Kayla Fitterer registered a new career high with 21 kills in Sunday's match against Arkansas.
Georgia split a pair of matches last weekend, beating 20th-ranked Tennessee 3-2, but then fell to 24th-ranked Kentucky in a five-set contest. The Bulldogs' win over Tennessee was the first win over a ranked opponent since 2008 when they beat and eighth-ranked Florida. Junior setter Kathleen Gates was named SEC Player of the Week for her help in the upset over the Lady Vols. The Bulldogs and the Tide have met 42 times with Alabama leading the overall series 23-19. Alabama and Georgia split the season in 2009 with each collecting a win at home.
Auburn faced No. 24 Kentucky and No. 20 Tennessee last weekend earning a split by winning 3-2 against the Wildcats and falling to the Lady Vols 3-1. Sophomore Sarah Bullock was a key player in both matches with 11 kills and 12 digs against Kentucky as well as 16 kills and 10 digs in the match against Tennessee. The Tide and the Tigers will be meeting for the 69th time on Sunday in the series that dates back to 1974 with Alabama holding a 43-25 lead. In 2009, Auburn and Alabama split the season with one win and one loss for each team, the most recent being a loss for the Tide in Auburn.
Live scoring will be available for both matches and can be found by clicking here.
